• Our game usually last from 8-10 rounds. What about yours?


  • A little less or about the same. By then it is so late that most guys must go home to their families anyway, and one side capitulates.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    45m setup, then about 1 hour per turn, G40, G41 or G42.

    G40;  by turn 7-8 either the axis have lost momentum and can’t overwhelm the growing power of the Allies, or the Axis has basically got economic victory because they own asia and Africa, most of Russia and are earning huge amounts of money that guarantee Russia’s fall.  To really see what would go down in about 50% of the more stalemated games, you’d need to schedule 2 day sessions.  8-10 hours for a ‘short’ game.

    G41:  the board gets wiped of all the goodies and stuff pretty quick, but setup takes longer (90m) because all the goodies are on the board  collapse should be apparent by turn 6, 6h.

    G42;  the game culminates on turn 7.  There could be a turn 8, but after that you’re looking at one or two powers being completely overwhelmed at that juncture, or fighting and standing.    Predict 5.5-8 hours until clarity.

    Online and PBEM games can last longer, but in live play and tournaments, there is a real time factor and desire to bring the game to a logical conclusion as people eventually get tired and 8-10 hours at one activity is intimidating and hard to repeat on even a monthly basis.


  • G40 is much longer of a game on TripleA than in face-to-face matches.  Usually around turn 7 or 8 somebody says, “YOLO” and launches a game-deciding attack.  For computer games when you can calculate your chance of winning or losing in every territory, people are less likely to get into situations where the game will be decided.  It is quite common to go to Round 15 for me against a good opponent.  Moscow will fall but that doesn’t mean the game is over.  Usually the Allies can hold out in the Middle East and it becomes a complex game of attrition.

  • '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    Very few of our games are outright wins – most are concessions by one side or the other. We tried scheduling multi-day sessions, but the folks who are on the side with worse chances of winning usually don’t want to show up for the second session.

    (This brings up what should be an interesting discussion.)

    If you know you’re going to lose barring A) utter stupidity on the part of your opponents, B) a series of insanely unlikely battle results in your favor, or C) some combination of the two, do you concede or make your opponents play til victory conditions are met?

    Marsh

  • '22 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    Many of the FtoF global games with the San Fran group have concluded with an actual win.  They were a full day: prob 10+ hours.

    However, these were Axis wins outright.  If the Allies were winning I doubt we’d ever get to the Allied victory conditions in less than two days.


  • I consider it very bad form to not surrender if defeat is inevitable.  Why bother wasting several hours of somebody else’s life when there is no hope of recovering?  The Axis certainly can drag things out for a very long time if they want to turtle down in their capitols.  If the opponent really wants to do that, I will find a new opponent.

  • '22 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    @Arthur:

    I consider it very bad form to not surrender if defeat is inevitable.  Why bother wasting several hours of somebody else’s life when there is no hope of recovering?  The Axis certainly can drag things out for a very long time if they want to turtle down in their capitols.  If the opponent really wants to do that, I will find a new opponent.

    Agreed, but as you know, things can seem to hang in the balance awhile longer than they really do.  Without TUV counters and other info, the Axis can seem to still pose a threat when they don’t.  That being said, I’ve seen/played the Axis and have turned around a few games that have seemed lost.

    You can also get into the “Japan is dead, but Russia is dead and Cairo is in play” kind of game, which is like a new game in some ways.

  • 2023 '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16

    My play group is very considerate about trying to (a) identify when the game isn’t much worth playing anymore, and then (2) accurately describe the likely outcome of the game.

    Right, like there are no hard-and-fast rules about “oh, you lost your capital, or you lost Cairo, or you’re making 30 IPCs less per turn, so it’s game over.” Instead we look at the board and try to see if there are battles or campaigns coming up that are likely (>10%?) to make a dramatic impact on the state of the game, especially campaigns where the underdog is going on the offensive, or where the apparent favorite is in danger of being pushed back if they lose a key attack. E.g. it matters a lot whether Germany has one stack next door to Moscow, with nothing to reinforce it if that stack is destroyed, vs. a steady stream of reinforcements and a huge stack next to Moscow. In the former case, Moscow could recover if it fends off a German battle with 80% odds to take Moscow. In the latter case, even if Moscow pulls out that 20% from the dice, they will still have 80% odds to die one turn later, so it’s not a big deal. The former position is interesting and worth playing on if we can manage to find time for a second session; the latter position is not interesting and the game should be called.

    When we call a game, we don’t insist on unconditional surrender. Instead, we try to agree on what the game looks like. For example, “the Allies are way ahead, but the Axis still have a slight chance.” Or, “It’s hard to say for sure who’s winning, but it looks like the Axis have a slight edge.” Sometimes we don’t always precisely agree – one side might claim the Allies are ahead by “a little” while the other side might claim the Allies have “a significant lead,” but so far we have always at least agreed on which side has the edge, even if not by how much.

  • '22 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    @Argothair:

    My play group is very considerate about trying to (a) identify when the game isn’t much worth playing anymore, and then (2) accurately describe the likely outcome of the game.

    Right, like there are no hard-and-fast rules about “oh, you lost your capital, or you lost Cairo, or you’re making 30 IPCs less per turn, so it’s game over.” Instead we look at the board and try to see if there are battles or campaigns coming up that are likely (>10%?) to make a dramatic impact on the state of the game, especially campaigns where the underdog is going on the offensive, or where the apparent favorite is in danger of being pushed back if they lose a key attack. E.g. it matters a lot whether Germany has one stack next door to Moscow, with nothing to reinforce it if that stack is destroyed, vs. a steady stream of reinforcements and a huge stack next to Moscow. In the former case, Moscow could recover if it fends off a German battle with 80% odds to take Moscow. In the latter case, even if Moscow pulls out that 20% from the dice, they will still have 80% odds to die one turn later, so it’s not a big deal. The former position is interesting and worth playing on if we can manage to find time for a second session; the latter position is not interesting and the game should be called.

    When we call a game, we don’t insist on unconditional surrender. Instead, we try to agree on what the game looks like. For example, “the Allies are way ahead, but the Axis still have a slight chance.” Or, “It’s hard to say for sure who’s winning, but it looks like the Axis have a slight edge.” Sometimes we don’t always precisely agree – one side might claim the Allies are ahead by “a little” while the other side might claim the Allies have “a significant lead,” but so far we have always at least agreed on which side has the edge, even if not by how much.

    Hey!  I am in your play group and what you are saying is…. basically right.  Although have we played global together?  Don’t recall honestly

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